UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor: Investigate the Possibility that Israel is Committing the Crime of Genocide Against the Palestinian People

But when there is a wall, there is nothing complicated about it. It’s a clear representation of oppression, colonialism and genocide, something students on this campus have become desensitized to while completely disregarding the concerns of Palestinian students on this campus.

According to a video of the workshop, which was led by activists from the Houston, Texas chapter of the anti-Zionist group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), one speaker described Zionism as “genocide and colonization” for “the indigenous people of Palestine,” and accused Israel of practicing “ongoing apartheid.”

A struggle for Palestinian freedom is not anti-Semitic; it’s the struggle for people given a place of power to be held accountable for the genocide they commit and for there to be consequences for such human rights violations.

The NLG condemns this latest act in the legacy of Anti-Palestinian discrimination, known as the “Palestine Exception” to Free Speech, and calls for the immediate instatement of the SJP Chapter at Fordham University… US Campaign for Palestinian Rights steering committee member and human rights attorney Bina Ahmad added, “Fordham University’s decision to suppress speech about genocide against the Palestinians and the Apartheid regime they live under is a slap in the face to the fundamental principles of free speech and open dialogue that Fordham claims to uphold…”

We, the undersigned campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)*, unequivocally support the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) and its newly released policy platform for “Black power, freedom, and justice.” We fully endorse M4BL’s demands and take this moment to renew our commitment to fighting antiblackness as well as all systems of oppression that disenfranchise and oppress Black communities.

For Palestinians marking the Nakba, it signifies not only a historical event, but also an ongoing process that continues to expel and enclose millions. And global outpourings each Nakba Day demonstrate the determination of millions to return to their homes, however many generations removed. “It is acknowledging the means in which Israel came to be — ethnic cleansing, genocide, and colonialism — and affirming it has no right to exist as a state built on the deaths and backs of our ancestors,” Kiswani said. “The strongest message we send in Nakba Day commemorations is that we will not forget, and we will return.”

As an advocacy group, SJP is committed to a core set of principles to which it expects its members to adhere. SJP believes that while the Palestinian people must ultimately be able to decide their future in Palestine, certain key principles, grounded in international law, human rights, and basic standards of justice, are fundamental to a just resolution of the plight of the Palestinians. These include the full decolonization of all illegally held Palestinian lands, the end of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. SJP aims to struggle against human rights violations, aggression, war crimes, and genocide inflicted on the Palestinian people.

TAKE ACTION now and write a letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor. Make sure to post a copy of the letter in our comments as well, so we can publish it.

Some 35 members of Students for Justice in Palestine at San Jose State University and community supporters marched from the campus to City Hall on Nov. 21 to rally and present a list of demands to Mayor Chuck Reed… Spirited chanting echoed off campus buildings and along the march route. Chants included: “Free, free Palestine,” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” “Israel, Israel what do you say, how many kids did you kill today,” “Israel, Israel you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” “1, 2, 3, 4 occupation no more, 5, 6, 7, 8 Israel is a terrorist state,” and “From Ferguson to Palestine, racism is a crime.”